In the several months following COVID-19 officially being classified as a global health pandemic, the business landscape has changed markedly. These unprecedented times are likely to become a moment in our collective history; the impact the virus has had on a global level has altered the way entire industries operate, particularly as government-ordered lockdowns were introduced.
This rapid period of evolution is likely to have a lasting impact, not least because consumer purchasing habits have altered significantly at the same time. In many ways, this speedy evolution is an encouraging sign as the warning period was scant, and there were no “hard and fast” guidelines on how to navigate such an intense global issue. This creative adaptability has been the life-force behind many businesses over the last handful of months. For businesses eager to continue to evolve and emerge the other side of this pandemic in a stronger place, now is the ideal time to begin implementing smart strategies and tactics to help navigate what is poised to become collectively our ‘new normal.’
So, what’s changed?
With many physical shops closing for an unspecified amount of time and those that were allowed to remain open facing supply issues alongside the need to contend with effective social distancing measures, many consumers turned to the online space to make both essential and non-essential purchases. But not only are more transactions taking place in the digital space, but consumer browsing behaviours have also altered.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, consumers were demonstrably more reluctant to purchase from unfamiliar brands online and in many cases actively preferred the familiarity of household names. As these prominent businesses faced supply chain issues, however, consumers turned to other businesses to purchase the essential products they were looking for. This has somewhat levelled the playing field across many industries and as consumers are becoming more familiar with the online space, the potential for a range of businesses to capitalise on the digital advantage is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
It is well worth noting here that consumer psychologists widely agree that it takes around 65 days for the average person to develop new and lasting shopping habits, even when their circumstances mean they could return to the habits they held previously. As we have been in multiple lockdowns for a combined period far longer than 65 days, it stands to reason that the retail landscape has now fundamentally changed forever.
This marked change illustrates that every business looking to succeed both now and into the future needs to invest in a strong digital presence, which is something digital professionals have been eager to communicate for many years. We live in an economy that is becoming increasingly digital-focused and for businesses, this means that appropriate consideration needs to be given to both search engine optimisation (SEO) and smart paid advertising campaigns. Approaches to these two aspects of a digital strategy should be adaptable and versatile, possessing the ability to evolve in-line with the changing needs of audiences and the different marketplace conditions that could arise.
The premise of SEO and paid advertising is relatively straightforward, however, each digital approach contains myriad nuances that need to be both understood and carefully utilised to maximise advantage. As such, working closely with a professional team delivering expert SEO in Manchester will place your business in the best possible position to leverage the knowledge and skill-set of an experienced team who keenly understand the intricacies of the digital space.
Search Creative provides data-driven solutions that can help you to achieve, and in many cases even surpass your core business goals and objectives. With the ability to ensure you are able to appeal to and connect with your ideal audience at precisely the right times, the Search Creative team know what it takes to stand out from the crowd in ultra-competitive marketplaces.
The ‘new normal’ for digital marketing in Manchester
Even in regular times, businesses can be faced with a variety of different challenges and understanding how to overcome even the most difficult of circumstances is what will help you to both survive and thrive, over both the short and the long term. Your digital strategy should be designed to work hard for your business on a daily basis, ensuring that you are in the best possible position to capitalise on every single opportunity that comes your way.
A small percentage of businesses have opted to pause their SEO, advertising and marketing investment in 2020, which is likely to mean that they will ultimately struggle to make the best possible impact when industries start to reopen and begin working towards operating at full capacity once again. Instead, investing wisely in strategic decisions that will deliver a strong return on investment (ROI) and help you to connect with your ideal audience is the best choice you can make for your brand right now.
So, in these turbulent times, with more businesses tuning in to the need to compete for increased consumer attention online, your business needs to do everything possible to ensure that you are the one that is occupying the most prominent position within your niche.
With more consumers actively looking for information and solutions to their problems online, now is an ideal time to invest in your search and content optimisation strategy as this will help you to secure steady streams of engaged and highly convertible traffic to your most valuable digital asset. SEO strategies can be approached and implemented in a variety of different ways depending on your unique goals. So, whether you want to future-proof your business, prepare for what a post-pandemic marketplace might look like, or alter your product and/or service offering in order to effectively appeal to a new audience that has the capacity to help your business survive, SEO is a versatile strategy that can also be incredibly cost-effective.
Search Creative is dedicated to offering premium online marketing services in Manchester and has a team who are well-placed to deliver first-class advice and support to businesses like yours looking to secure meaningful success in challenging circumstances.
Importantly, this time is providing myriad opportunities and with the right team on your side, capitalising on each and every one of these will help you to secure the long term future of your brand.
What does high-quality online marketing in Manchester look like?
You might have heard the phrase ‘content is king’ before and it’s true. Content sits at the heart of every powerful digital marketing strategy, precisely because it is what helps brands to connect with their ideal audience at the right times and in the most appropriate places. Search engines value websites that are frequently refreshed with new and highly informative content that audiences are searching for because they only want to deliver the best results for each search term and query.
As such, frequently updated websites are actively rewarded with higher organic ranking positions in search engine results pages (SERPs) which leads to increased opportunities to effectively convert visitors into happy customers.
But it’s one thing to have high-quality, hyper-relevant content and it’s another thing entirely to ensure that the right audience can locate it easily and efficiently. That is where we can help!
The value of effective SEO and PPC management in Manchester
The purpose of every campaign and optimisation decision should be keenly informed by the needs of your business. So, if you operate within an industry that has slowed significantly since the outbreak of COVID-19, then investing in a sales-focused strategy isn’t likely to deliver the kinds of results you need to see. Instead, now would be the ideal time to focus your attention on building awareness of your brand so that you sit at the forefront of your niche so your potential customers can immediately see that you are a trustworthy brand with a lot to offer. There are a variety of ways to do this effectively, including running advertising campaigns that showcase your expertise and creating content that allows you to communicate both the breadth and depth of your knowledge.
As an experienced agency specialising in digital marketing in Manchester, the Search Creative team recognises that high quality and well-considered strategies consistently drive the best results for the businesses they are working hard to support. The hard work doesn’t stop when a campaign is devised or implemented because strategies can only continue to deliver results when they are carefully managed. In real terms, this means monitoring marketplace conditions and key metrics to understand whether there are any refinements or fine-tuning that could deliver more notable success.
Remember, whether you want to market your brand on a global, national, regional or local level, SEO and PPC campaigns need effective management. Recently, for example, we have seen a shift in consumer priorities towards availability and away from quality, price and brand. In practical terms for businesses, this essentially means that if you know you can meet the expectations of your audience despite usually being in competition with a much bigger retailer, running a PPC campaign to connect with the right people and promote your offering now has the potential to deliver an excellent return. Businesses like yours are currently being faced with a plethora of tricky decisions and working with a team offering first-class PPC management in Manchester will help you to make decisions that keenly align with your business needs.
What to look for when partnering with a team specialising in SEO in Manchester
Whether you are eager to boost your sales, boost awareness of your brand or anything in between, a solid digital strategy with robust SEO and paid advertising tactics will help you to achieve the levels of success you need to see to guarantee the future of your business.
Even as more physical shops are allowed to reopen as lockdown 2 measures are eased, the online space is set to continue to see high levels of activity long into the future. Consumer shopping habits have been permanently altered and with increasing numbers becoming more familiar and comfortable with completing transactions online, businesses with a professional, personable and highly visible online presence are primed to capitalise on the increased opportunity when it comes to making lasting connections with an already engaged audience.
